Thursday Oldie: Angelfall by Susan Ee

Angelfall by Susan Ee
Series: Penryn & The End of Days #1
Source: Bought paperback
Publisher: Skyscape
Publication Date: August 28, 2012
Original Post: Jan 11, 2014
Age Genre: Young Adult

It's been six weeks since the angels of the apocalypse destroyed the world as we know it. Only pockets of humanity remain.
Savage street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night.
When angels fly away with a helpless girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back...

Angelfall is one of these books. You know, the kind that takes over the reading community by storm? The kind everybody seems to unanimously love? Naturally, I was pumped up for this book. I wanted to be wowed by it. I wanted it to be the first Angel book that blew my mind all the way to mars.

For the most part, it wasn't. But there was a ton of epic shit going down there at the end, and just for that last 30% I'll be picking the second book up... probably the moment book three comes out, so I could binge read.

This book is not all puppies and rainbows. Unless we're talking about man-eating puppies and rainbows of blood, in which case, maybe it is. This book is bloody dark. Much darker than I expected (I always seem to forget how much crap dystopian worlds are capable of). It has death, and it has munching on body parts, and it has people (creatures? beings?) playing Frankenstein. Which is so not cool.

The conclusion? Don't read it at night. And if you do, make sure all the lights are on, so you'll at least be able to see the monsters coming.

The story is told from Penryn's point of view, as she navigates this angel ravaged world in her quest to find and save her little sister from the angels who kidnapped her. (Why are the angels destroying our world? No idea. Actually, no one seems to know. Which kind of sucks for us.)

I really liked Penryn as a main character - she was loyal and tough, hardened and strong... but the thing I actually liked most about her is how she is not looking to save the world. All she wants is her family in one piece, and even that is too much weight on her young shoulders.

Her journey companion is Raffe, an angel who had his wings cut off. They both want to get to the same place, for different reasons, so they decide to cooperate. And if on the way they discover the other is not so bad? That Raffe may be an angel - the creature ruining our world - but he's also gentle and caring? Loyal? Well, that's alright. And okay, he sometimes comes out too confident and condescending... but it really works for him.

Side note: the way Penryn says Raffe's name is pronounced (like Raw Feet) is actually a name we have here, in Israel. My sort-of grandpa (long story) is called Raffie, so that was fun to read of. 

Together Penryn and Raffe were actually... kind of awesome. They don't embark on an epic romantic relationship... yet... but boy do the sparks fly. And in the end... *le sigh* - Raffe is so sweet. The two of them are. I want them together, Susan Ee, and I even have theories and suggestions to make it happen! Email me! We can talk about them!

But admittedly, the first 70% of the book were just "okay" for me. They were mostly travel, and hiding, and running, and you know - stuff like that. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything amazing.

But those last 30%? Boy, the epicness. They were fabulous. And utterly heartbreaking, for so many different reasons. I didn't know one could snuff so much heartbreak into one end -it was kind of impressive, and completely depressing. Nothing good happened.The situation looks beyond hopeless... which makes me excited to see how Susan Ee gets them out of it. At least I hope she will... without killing one of my favorite main characters.

This book is also the epitome of mysterious and intriguing. So many things seem to happen backstage, and we have no idea why or how or what the bad guy's end game. I have so. many. damned. questions. And something tells me I'm not going to get any answers any time soon... *Sobs*

Lastly... sorry for all the cursing. This book just brings all the best out of me *wink*

Nitzan★

Angelfall by Susan Ee

Angelfall by Susan Ee
Series: Penryn and the End of Days, #1
Source: Bought
Publisher: Feral Dream
Publication Date: May 21, 2011

It's been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

I jumped right into Angelfall without having a clue about it. I knew that it was about angels, but that was the extent of my knowledge. To tell you the truth, I'd never really been interested in it before - it didn't seem like my thing. But I gave it a shot, for Nitzan!

And it turns out that I actually liked it! It was really... I guess intense would be the word. It felt like we never really stopped for a breath. There were lots of horror-y moments where I wished I wasn't reading in the dark, and there was a bit of a mystery going on. I liked the mystery, even if in the end it was all gruesome and such. Gruesome is okay.

I liked Penryn too - but her name... I don't know about it. I couldn't decide how exactly to say it, so it kept coming out "Pinrin", which probably isn't right... but whatever. I also had a bit of a problem with Raffe's name - I kept calling him "Raf-eee", even though it's pronounced "Raw-Feet". I guess I just have a bit of a problem with pronunciation - let's blame it on my roots. But I've sidetracked a bit here... back to Penryn.

Like I said, I liked her as a character. She was a really strong girl, and it was nice to see someone so focused on keeping their family safe in a situation like hers. I did have a problem with some of the things that she did, though. For someone so focused on family, she's not afraid to run off and leave her schizophrenic mom anywhere - and her mom always finds her. I'm not going to lie, Penryn's mom sort of scared me.

There were lots of terrifying moments in Angelfall. And I mean lots - Susan Ee sure knows how to write a suspenseful scene, which I liked. I even liked the ending, although it was kind of sad. I still liked it. All in all, Angelfall was a pretty good read.